Format: Sealed Deck/Booster Draft Day 2

Get your free promo card by playing in the Grand Prix (while supplies last).

Take part in a weekend of serious Magic fun with a bunch of exciting things to do!

Join the fun in Public Events including 8-players pick-up games, Intro Pack Open Dueling and more. Meet Magic artist Alan Pollack and get your cards signed. Get a sneak peek at the upcoming game ‘Duels of the Planeswalkers’ on Xbox Live Arcade. Battle against a champion in the ‘Champions Challenge’. Achieve three Planeswalkers challenges and enter a draw to win Magic prizes! Or take part in the main tournament and get a cool foil ‘Chrome Mox’ promo card!

Whatever you want to do, GP Rotterdam will be a weekend to remember!

The Magic: The Gathering Grand Prix tournament series is a great reason to get out of the house, catch up with old friends, meet some new ones, and play Magic. Grand Prix tournaments are world-wide open events that allow all Magic players to participate and experience the thrill of a large-scale competition. In addition to $30,000 in cash prizes, Pro Tour invitations for the top 16 finishers, and exclusive foil promo cards for participants, Grand Prix feature a host of other activities, including public events and artist signings. Find out more about the Grand Prix tournament schedule here.

If product is not stamped or preregistered, deck registration and deck swap will be performed for the Swiss Sealed Deck.

Tournament Structure

Modified Swiss-style (50-minute rounds).

If 799 or less players register for the event, all players with an X-2-0 record (or better) or the top 64 players - whichever is greater - advance to the second day of competition for prizes and invitations.

If 800 or more players register for the event, all players with an X-2-0 record (or better) or the top 128 players - whichever is greater - advance to the second day of competition for prizes and invitations. .

The top 8 players after the final Swiss round on Day 2 will advance to the Top 8 single-elimination finals.

Top 8 matches will be best 2 of 3

Top 8 matches will have no time limit

The Top 8 players will be seated randomly at the draft table immediately prior to drafting. The Top 8 bracket will be determined using this random seating.

Where necessary, the standings after the Swiss rounds will still be used to determine final order in the standings.

All Universal Tournament Rules and Magic: The Gathering Floor Rules are in effect for this event unless specifically overruled by information in this Format Document. Rules documents can be found in the DCI Document Center.

Players must bring pen, paper, card sleeves and appropriate counters.

In the event that a player who wins an invitation to a Pro Tour stop at a Grand Prix has already qualified for an invitation, the invitation does not pass down under any circumstances. Previous qualification may be through a Qualifier tournament, through performance at a professional tournament, or by being an invited DCI player (valid upon the date of the official rank announcement for the appropriate professional tournament).

Tournament Byes

Grand Prix Trials

Grand Prix–Rotterdam Trials will be run in the weeks leading up to the Grand Prix. Each offers at least 1 Third-Round bye to Grand Prix–Rotterdam.

Byes will be given to players in the Grand Prix based on the following criteria (Byes are not cumulative throughout the season or year. Byes do not pass down under any circumstances. Players that accumulate multiple byes to a particular Grand Prix tournament receive only the bye for the greatest number of rounds):

Alan Pollack began drawing at an early age. Influenced by artists such as Frazetta, Boris, the Hildebrandts and Michael Whelan, Alan knew that fantasy illustration was to be his career of choice.

After graduating from high school, he studied at several colleges. At the School of Visual Arts in NYC, the illustration team of Martucci and Greisbach convinced Alan to dabble in oils. In his early 20's, he worked part time as a silk screener and a photo retoucher while building his portfolio. In 1991, after much rejection from New York publishers, Alan was assigned his first cover illustration for Dungeon magazine. As the work became steady, he left his part time job and found an agent in NYC, but shortly thereafter was offered a staff position at T.S.R. Inc., the home of Dungeons and Dragons. He spent the next couple of years surrounded by great artists and continued to hone his skills.

In 1997, Alan went out on his own once again -- but this time with some experience and much needed skills under his belt. In order to keep up with the times, Alan has learned to paint digitally as well with the assistance of friend and fellow illustrator Todd Lockwood. Alan has worked for most of the RPG companies in the industry as well as Del-Rey, ROC, Avon Books, Tor Books, Baen Books, The Science Fiction Book Club, Upper Deck and Wizards of the Coast, to name a few.

Randy Gallegos began illustrating in 1994, at the tender age of 19 -- a fact that surprises many people who meet him and consider him young for having illustrated for Magic so many years. His first Magic set was 1995's Ice Age, and since then he has been a fairly regular contributor for the game, having illustrated more than 125 Magic cards up through Shards of Alara at present. Some of the more notable cards he has illustrated include Accumulated Knowledge, Soul Warden, Bant Charm, and Grimoire Thief. As well as his work on Magic, Randy has produced illustrations for many of Wizards of the Coasts' games over the years, including as a regular contributor to Dungeons & Dragons.

He currently lives in New York City, and over the past years has spent time living in Spain, Italy and England. He speaks Spanish well, and greatly enjoys traveling and meeting Magic players the world over.

Other Hall Attractions

The Champions Challenge: Play Against Magic Champions Want to see how you fare against the Magic champions? Come to the Champions Challenge area and test your skills against top pro players.

Planeswalkers’ Challenges Join us for this fun activity! In order to participate, pick up your Planeswalkers card at registration or in the Public Events area. The card has 6 Planeswalkers challenges for you to try and accomplish during your weekend. Achievements include playing in a Public Event, getting an artist signature, demoing Duels of the Planeswalkers and much more. Achieve 3 of them and enter in a draw for your chance to win Magic prizes. For a complete list of achievements and prizes, click here.

Travel Information

Travel by Car Directions can easily be found at the venue website www.ahoy.nl.

Travel by Plane Best way to enter The Netherlands is Amsterdam International Airport (Schiphol Airport). From Schiphol Airport there is a direct train that will take you to Rotterdam Central station in less then an hour. Another possibility is Rotterdam Airport. Once arrived here, the airport shuttle will take you to the city centre in 20 minutes.

Public Transport to Venue From the city centre, take the Erasmus subway line direction Spijkenisse or direction Slinge. Get off at the stop Zuidplein. From here, it will take you approximately 5 minutes to walk to Ahoy. Ticket vending machines only accept Visa or coins, a one way ticket will cost you 3.5€.

Things to See/DoIf you want to explore Rotterdam, you can take a look at the website www.rotterdam.info.